By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Jackson County commissioners have set in motion a strategy to make up for the past and plan for the future, directing the planning board to make several land-use ordinances this year’s top priority.

The last thing Macon County — or any of the counties west of Asheville — needs is a high-rise condominium development. Commissioners in that county made a wise move Monday to enact a moratorium on any construction over 48-feet in height. They made use of a common tool often employed by local governments who are looking out for the welfare of their constituency.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Macon County Commissioners unanimously approved a moratorium on high-rise development Monday, giving county planning and legal staff 11 months to write an ordinance that if adopted could potentially prohibit such development for a long time to come.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

A high-rise moratorium is in the works for Macon County.

On Monday night (Dec. 4), county commissioners directed new county attorney Lesley Moxley and Macon County Planner Stacy Guffey to draft an ordinance prohibiting new commercial and residential construction over 48 feet in height or four stories for six months.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

A lawsuit over deed restrictions that could prevent a controversial high-rise condominium near Highlands from being built is past due for mediation.

Haywood County Commissioners made several changes to the slope development ordinance before passing it. The ordinance kicks in when a cut-and-fill slope exceeds a certain threshold. That threshold is what commissioners altered. Here’s the net effect of the changes:

• Proposed: A slope stabilization plan is required for any cut-and-fill slope taller than 10 feet.

• Change: This measure was eliminated.

• Proposed: A slope stabilization plan is required for any earth moving activity on natural slope cuts that exceeds 40 percent.

• Change: This measure was eliminated.

• Proposed: A slope stabilization plan is required for a cut slope that exceeds a 1 to 1 ratio of run to rise.

• Change: Applies only to slope cuts that exceed 15 feet in height.

• Proposed: A slope stabilization plan is required for a fill slope that exceeds a 1.5 to 1 ratio of run to rise.

• Change: Applies only to slopes that exceed 15 feet in height.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

About 80 area residents gathered at the Jackson County Recreation Center Thursday night to learn more about the county’s new land development plan and discuss the future of growth.

Haywood County commissioners are poised to pass a slope development ordinance at their meeting next week, but a big question remains: when will the new ordinance go into effect?

Not too long ago there occurred an unlikely meeting of the minds. Sylva developer John Beckman and Whittier farmer William Shelton sat down in the back of Sylva’s Spring Street Café with maps and blueprints to talk about the issue of disappearing farmland in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Slope ordinance

Haywood County commissioners are considering a slope development ordinance with the following restrictions: